If your browser were Java-capable, you would see my Rosary applet here.

This java applet shows the usual way of praying the Western rosary. It remains in widespread use especially among Roman Catholics.

The Rosary was popularized by the Dominicans as a way of structuring and combining active prayer and devotional meditation. It is simple and the subject matter is the best. Having something to do with the hands helps many people stay focused.

The 150 "Hail Mary's" in the complete cycle (before the introduction in 2003 of the Luminous Mysteries) derive from the 150 psalms in the Hebrew Bible.

This is the first site where the term "Protestant Rosary" appears in a serious context. Protestants are less likely to ask for intercessory prayers from famous Christians, and from time to time have suggested minor alterations suitable for their denominations. The prayer suggestions offered here are from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.

Since I am a Protestant, I usually follow the modern Roman Catholic usage in the interest of ecumenicism, even if this does not quite fit with my personal beliefs. I think most Christians will understand.

Protestants know that "catholic" with a lower-case "c" means "universal." For me, this line in the Apostle's Creed (which is said on the cross-shaped bead) just means that however many different "churches" you see in a town, or how many different denominations or styles of worship, we Christians are really one body, one people. I did not want to tamper with the creed any further.

Praying the rosary is not magic, but is an aid to meditation on the life and work of Christ. This may in turn make you a better person.

I have always used my fingers instead of beads.

Virtual Rosary -- and prayer network
Rosary Center (Dominican)
Holy Rosary Site
Skip Guinness Learns to Pray -- by a cyberfriend
Ecumenical Rosary. The three groups of five mysteries are replaced by three groups of Christ's acts (healings, acts, appearances). The Hail Mary is replaced by a short prayer based on the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22: 34-40), and the Gloria by a short prayer based on the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20).

An Anglican Rosary, by John J. Gabner, seems to be offline right now. It is more focused on Mary than are other Protestant formulations of the rosary. Mary is greeted and honored, but has no prayers actually addressed to her. The form of the Hail Mary ends with "Son of Mary, Son of the living God, have mercy upon us now and at the hour of our death." Anglican Rosary
Anglican Rosary -- Wikipedia
Anglican Rosary
Anglican Rosary -- Society of St. Francis
Anglican Rosary -- Society of Saint Francis

An Anglican Rosary has been popular since the mid-1980's. It has a circle of four groups of seven beads ("weeks"), each group separated by one larger bead ("cruciform"). A side-chain off one large bead has another larger bead ("invitatory") and ends in a cross. The 33 beads stand for the 33 years of Jesus's life. Users decide what prayers to use for the cross and for each of the different beads, and what to think about during each of the four "weeks". This may appeal to a wide range of Episcopalians, especially "broad church".

Thanks to Mr. Robin Cooper for explaining to me that in the Roman Catholic usage, the Fatima Prayer is used only at the ends of decades.

My internet friend David Burke has a devotional site to Mary here.

Another rosary applet (text only, "inclusive language")

Jesus
Interactive Rosary Tutorial -- found it in 2011, nice, similar to this one, only Roman Catholic form
Mary
Why I became a Christian
Home page
Spinning
Episcopalian Shield, Small


I wrote and posted this little program on St. Luke's Day, 2003. Pope John Paul II designated October 2002-October 2003 as "Year of the Rosary". So far as I can tell, this is the first "electronic rosary" that one can simply use on a webpage with beads. If you download this page for your personal use, be sure you also download Rosary.class into the same directory. If you want to use this on your own site, you are welcome to do so -- please place a link somewhere on your website to some page on mine www.pathguy.com. Add this text to your page:

OR download Rosary.class, place it in the same directory, and add this text to your webpage:

If you would like it modified for your use, e-mail me at efriedlander@wmcarey.edu and I can probably do it.